Thanks to some good friends over the years I have had the opportunity to wheel and deal my way to a slew of Fuente Opus X's from different vintages. Early in my smoking stage, I was curious to see the development of Dominican tobacco over several years of aging. What better stick to test the aging ability of Dominican tobacco than the brand most people consider the best Dominican out there?,... the Opus X brand. So I dipped into my humidor and pulled out the oldest Opus I could find. Now most seasoned cigar smokers know the great aging potential of Cuban cigars and Nicaraguans, but can the Dominicans hold their own too? We'll see,...

Appearance : With this much age there is a good amount of plume almost covering the entire cigar. The cellophane on these cigars was extremely yellowed. The band has a lot of black on it that has bled and faded over the years. The wrapper is pretty veiny and the seams are noticeable to say the least. There is a large amount of discoloration to the outside of the cigar, with dark streaks contrasting against the light brown coloration of the wrapper. This is by far and away the most fragrant cigar I have ever smelled. I am not lying when I say it smells exactly like a cinnamon breakfast muffin. The foot smells heavily of black, loose, tea leaves. The dry draw is very unique, it is salty, savory, herbal, and kinda potpourri-ish.

Construction : Even though so old, the cigar looks remarkably well built. It sports a double cap, tight seams, and a loose bunch. The dry draw gives way to a perfect amount of air passage. After lighting it, the smoke production through the draw was enormous. A familiar Fuente burn problem reappears with a small portion of the cigar forgetting that it needs to burn too. Kinda annoying, but I can work with it by touching it up along the way.

Flavor : Lighting the cigar was a pain, but afterwards I was immediately taken back by how much flavor and strength this cigar still has. There was a small amount of pepper in the first couple of puffs and then nuts and a little leather. The smoke is pretty smooth but the aftertaste it leaves is a little dirty.

Only an inch in and flavors have transitioned to simple woodiness and some dry cracker notes. The intensity of flavor has been dialed way back now and is nothing like the first inch.

As soon as you get used to the flavors of the cigar it changes on you again frequently. I am only nearing the last part of the 1st third and now the cigar has changed its profile completely to taste like green vegetables (peas?). The finish, though, is very familiar,... it tastes of mineral water.

As I smoke down to the halfway point, more and more flavor tends to drop off. There is only a light amount of faint woodiness and the finish of,... yep,... water vapor.

The flavor drop off has become a landslide nearing the finale of the cigar. The only flavor I can detect is just pure tasteless smoke with more of that lovely Fuente mineral water,... yay!

Value : I generally think that Opus X's are priced very well around the $10 to $17 dollar range. There are a few Opus cigars that demand more money but they are generally very rare. Based on my experience with this stick I would say it wasn't worth it, but it is 11 years after its release. I imagine it would have scored much higher on the value scale awhile years ago.

Overall Rating : (1.75) If you were to guess the experience that you were going to have just by smelling the cigar, one would probably start drooling and salivating. Unfortunately after lighting the cigar, the magnitude of my let down was enormous. The cigar was just plane dull after 10 puffs and never changed its profile hardly. The cigar also burned very slow and took me around 1.75 hours to smoke it,... very long time to be smoking a monotonous stick. I generally don't like Opus X's brand spanking new, and I have found that I really don't like them very old either after smoking this one. These cigars definitely have a lifespan around 5-6 years max (presumably) and I prefer to smoke them around the 2-3 year mark. All in all, I just wished I could have had a different cigar and the two hours of my life back. I guess that is the price you pay to smoke a rare treat (eck!) like this Fuente Fuente Opus X from 2001.

1)A single review could not possibly “prove” or “disprove” anything. 2)I’ve read plenty of bad reviews of cigars that have been aged long-term w/o cello and plenty of good ones of cigars that have been aged in cello. It’s dishonest to give the impression that the only problem with this smoke is that it was kept in cello…The fact is that I agree with the reviewer, Opus X really isn’t that good ROTB (especially the smaller sizes, which can be a bit abrasive and sometimes bitter)I’ve really loved the medium sizes (robusto, super beli, etc) that I’ve had with 2-6 years age on ’em. They’re delicate and subtle but still have some power to them. I have no problem believing that if you go ahead and age them an additional 5-10 years after that they’ll be well passed their prime and not worth smoking…I’ve also had mixed success with their construction properties. Some have burned and drew perfectly, others wouldn’t burn right or hold a decent looking ash for sh!t. This review doesn’t surprise me at all.

Horrible experience having the Opus X﻿ Churchill cigar, it had a tight draw the more I smoke it, I had to draw constantly because the cigar would die out quickly, uneven burning. Last straw was during the last third of the cigar, it started canoeing on me. At the very end it looked like crap. Hate smoking Fuentes cigars, not the same but had a similar problem with the Hemmingway short story. Hate smoking that brand, told the guy at the counter at Casa Fuente to wow me, but the best is obviously garbage. It also was not on cellophane. Done with that brand altogether.

A friend of mine stopped by last week on business and to thank me for the Gurkha Factum I gave him the week prior. As a thank you, he left a couple of Fuente Fuente Opus X on my desk (Thanks again Rob if you happen to read this). I was a bit surprised as this quality of cigar was not something I was accustomed to. Even my brother who has a very limited knowledge of cigars knew of the high quality and (sometimes) price of the cigar. The only thing that was mentioned from my friend was that they were not taken care of as well as they could have been and could be a bit dry. Slightly dry, yes they were, but nothing too terrible.

Giving it the customary physical interrogation, the only issues I found with the cigar were in regard to its dryness. Translation: a bit of the middle part of the wrapper was coming apart from itself. Again, as it was a gift from a friend, it’s something I can overlook. Bought in a brick and mortar store or online in this condition would be unacceptable.

Lighting the cigar up and giving it a few full draws, like its standard and more unique Opus X siblings, the Fuente Fuente is quite complex in terms of flavors. Hints of wood and ever-so slight taste of sweetness, balanced out to where while it is certainly full-bodied right from the start. However, it’s not overbearing in the least; in my opinion, you would not need a full stomach to smoke this. I didn’t feel that the overall strength of the cigar increased until the last fourth, so you can expect to have a consistent full-bodied flavor throughout the two-hour smoke time. And even though it is a very bodied cigar, I didn’t find the finish to be any longer on the palette than normal.

The ash is also welcomed to this cigar in that it has an excellent white hue and it stays firm to the end, leaving little worries in everyone’s favorite “ash gifts.” Besides the wrapper slightly off of itself midway through the cigar, it didn’t interfere in the cigar’s burn.

Recommendations:

Fantastic cigar, although I really expect nothing less from the Opus X brand. If you are lucky enough to find these at a comfortable price, pick these up immediately. Otherwise, the Fuente Fuente Opus X is delegated to the “special occasion” category of cigar purchases.

Great review. I had one of the Perfection #4 (I think that was the one) and I thought I was going to die halfway through it =) I would say to HAVE a full stomach for this puppy! I was sucking fresh air in through the window while I was shaking like it was -30 degrees outside =) now it could be the size, since mine was a smaller vitola, it might have been just that much more power for the size.